Monday, December 16, 2013

So a couple from church invited me to go to the Sierra with them and one of their friends. I was so stoked because I had heard amazing thing about the area. Heading out of the parking basement in the apartment building of their friend (funky door eh?).

So this is a train station in Jerez in front of the apartment complex of their friend. Pretty ornate for a train station isn't it!?

So as we were heading to the Sierra we passed this city called Arcos de la frontera. You can see in the distance a castle nestled on the top of the hill. So sweet!!

Some Spanish countryside. It was a gorgeous day.

So the particular mountain range we were going to is known by the locals as the sleeping woman. If you look way out into the distance you can see the mountains form the sleeping woman (use your imagination :-P).

We stopped at a little town along the way called Bosque to check out some shops. God a candid shot of Manuel here.

Check out these streets! Ah, I love Spain so much, I think the Sierra is the most beautiful part I've seen so far. It's kind of out of the way and less touristy.

More street shots.

Gotta love those narrow little streets.

Ah, it is just so quaint! The hanging plants and all. Honestly, it's hard to caption these sitting in my apartment for the nostalgia. Definitely looking forward to visiting again when the family comes!

The town hall of these little mountain towns all had such a distinctive look to them (I think I have more later on). Pretty sweet!

Cute old lady reading something in a doorway we passed by.

The "pucker balls" are full orange this time of year here as well as in Chipiona. They are SO sour though!

Such a neat little town.

Back on the road again, I tried to get a shot of a moorish castle on the top of that hill on the left but you can't really make it out.

Baaaah!

Okay, so this pretty much took my breath away when we crested a little hill and there was the town of Ubrique! Ah, is that not a precious sight or what!? How many places in the world do you see a white city nestled at the base of granite mountains? Oh it was aweseome!

Magnificent!

Got to love some of the trees here as well. That feller grows natural like that.

Haha, I had to take a picture of this tiny little car in front of a house. It's like the parking space was build for it, not six inches in front or back of it with the gate closed!

Man, this was such a dramatic city!

So Ubrique is known for its leather (it makes up 80% of the economy here) and they ship their high quality stuff to all sorts of ritzy regions like Paris, London, etc. I checked out the price of one of the ladies coats... 995e!!! Sorry mother, but the $1,300 price tag was a bit of a turn off! What'd these cows eat, gold? lol

A little nativity scene in the front of one of the leather stores.

And there you have it, a genuine Spanish leather store.

The cow that didn't quite make it into a purse ;-)

I thought this was interesting. An old Spanish coffee grinder put as a decoration in one of the leather shops.

Heading back up to the car to go explore some other areas.

On the top of the hill on the right are the ruins of an roman city! To my delight that was our next destination.

A clearer shot of the hills (again, the right on is where the ruins are).

Here we are at the base of the trail. I guess at all the historic sites there're these little restaurants called Ventas. We parked to go sample this one (again, much to my delight! I tell you, I was one happy camper on this little journey).

One of the architecture styles typical of this region is to have white shingles bordering and on the crests of the roofs.

A stunning view! Ah man, it was just the prettiest day.

Manuel heading into the restaurant (Venta) in front of me.

I'm bummed that this picture turned out so fuzzy but this was the inside of the place. Pretty awesome eh? :-)

After we ordered we went outside to sit in the sun.

¡Magnífico digo!

Chow time!

So this was really young wine he brought out. Super light and accompanied by these little bean things in which you bit a hole in the shell and kind of squirted the insides into your mouth.

Haha, I felt like such a tourist taking pictures of everything, but hey, I want this thing recorded :-)

There's the shell of one of the legume on the plate there.

The wind picked up and we took our little party inside (and ordered some more food... Didn't mind that second part at all). Haha, so your going to love my description of that stuff on the plate there. Yeah, cow liver with gobs of fat all over it! Haha, it was actually delicious though!

Not sure what was going on here, but yeah, there you go ;-)

Oh yeah, hello aged cheese and crackers!

The waiter added some more fuel to the fire. Made for a pretty legit atmosphere!

Alright, time to go explore some more. Next post: Roman Ruins! See ya then :-)